Wednesday, 13 January 2016

The LBC has gone a little quiet over the last week or so, but I'm still here. Sadly my laptop is not -- hence the delayed updates. After 3.5 years of solid service, it has finally given up the ghost.

I hope to have a new one sorted out within the next week -- after which I hope to return to our usual erratic programming. In the meantime, you can find me on Instagram (@lupinebookclub), Twitter (@lupinebookclub) and Facebook (Search "Lupine Book Club").

Saturday, 2 January 2016

Riding the curious yet genius trend of collectible figurines that can
be used in video games started by Skylanders, Lego Dimensions burst onto the gaming scene earlier in 2015. Now
though it’s awesome that we get a bunch of existing Lego licenses turned into
digital form, one of the most interesting aspects has also been the new
licenses thrown into the mix – Dr Who,
Back to the Future and the subject of
today’s review, Portal 2. I don’t
care for all of them, but it’s good to see just how broad Lego’s palette has
become.

Somewhat annoyingly, the box doesn’t include the full
instructions. After you’ve built Chell’s minifigure and placed her on the
stand, the instruction booklet simply advises you to continue building using
the in-game instructions. For someone like me who’s not so much interested in
the game as simply building the set, it’s pretty irritating. Fortunately, you can download
them here.

The minifigure is based on her look from Portal 2. Either
version of Chell would have been fine, but this is the more colourful of her
two looks. She’s been printed with two faces; passive/blank and cranky. I
prefer the more passive one; while more aggressive one isn’t bad, they would
have been better off using a print similar to Wonder Woman’s angry face. Her
gun is an all-new mould. While cool, it’s cast in the soft rubbery plastic that
Lego sometimes uses for its accessories. I don’t mind that for some
accessories, but I think it would have been better if her gun had been the
usual hard plastic. The rubbery material also makes it more difficult for it to
slot into her hand, though it can be done.

From my perspective, there are two details missing from the
current version. Chell’s long-fall boots are (understandably) rendered as being
solely white; though I’m sure customisers will quickly figure a workaround, it
would have been difficult to work in the stilts aspect of their construction
and have her still be able to stand. This is an issue that also affects the NECA
figure (I need to get around to reviewing her at some point), though they did include a specialised stand for her. Additionally, there isn’t a spare orange bulb piece to
create a “player 2” gun. This isn’t a major drama, as anyone who’s been
collecting Lego for any amount of time is likely to have a spare in their bits
box. Still, it would have been a nice, if not essential, inclusion.

The other two elements are the Sentry Turret and the Companion
Cube. I think the Sentry Turret is
about right in terms of size, but it’s been a long time since I’ve played the
games and I couldn't find any good reference shots of the two of them
together from the game. The Companion Cube seems to be more ambiguous. It looks
too large to me (though understandably so, given the nature of Lego bricks) but
again, no good reference pics that I can find. Cosplayers seem to have run the
gamut from massive to tiny with their own accessories, so I suppose it works well enough.

Each of these two can be reassembled into a few different
forms – not accurate to the original source material, as far as I know, but they have
differing functions within the Lego
Dimensions game. It adds some additional value to the set in gameplay terms, if not so much from a collector's perspective.

Speaking of which...as someone who’s not playing the game
it’s definitely on the overpriced side. I’m prepared to wear a bit of a premium
given the in-game elements, but this thing retails for $49.95! Shop around a
little and you can find it a bit cheaper, but I think it would be better value
if they managed to have sold it for around the $30 mark (and of course, had the
other character/team packs cheaper). Still, Lego has always been a premium
brand – both in quality and in price. Concerns about price aside, I think this is a really fun set
for Lego and Portal fans alike. If you can find it at a reasonable price or get given it as a gift, it's a great addition to just about any collection. This one is likely to go for big bucks on the aftermarket the moment it gets discontinued. just for the unusual nature of the license.